Disease & illness

What actually is disease?

In recent years, there’s been a subtle but significant shift from talking about ‘disease’ to ‘dis-ease’.

So rather than ‘disease’ being almost like a dirty word, it’s described as ‘dis-ease’, or simply a lack of ease. This is an important distinction, and is actually a return of how the word was originally used hundreds of years ago when it first came about.

The English word ‘disease’ comes from an old French word ‘desaise’, which was first used in the 14th century. Desaise meant discomfort, inconvenience, distress or trouble.

By the end of the 14th century, the meaning of ‘lack of ease’ had extended into a general term for sickness or illness. It wasn’t until the 16th century that disease was used to refer to a case of an illness, or to specific illnesses and maladies.

Diseases range from mildly inconvenient through to catastrophic, and everything in between.

Why is disease prevention important?

You can’t fail to be aware of how overloaded the NHS is, with millions of people on waiting lists throughout the UK. Disease prevention reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases and other morbidities. The earlier diseases are detected, the more likely the possibility of treatment and recovery, offering people the prospect of a longer and better quality life.

Taking care of yourself prevents health problems and can save money by reducing the number of medical visits and medications you may need.

The impact of disease and illness range from you living a slightly sub optimal quality of life through to a debilitating, distressing, painful and expensive existence.

Take acne, for example. It can seem, on the surface, to be a mild inconvenience for a short amount of time. But it can feel much worse than causing a mild inconvenience. It could be that a young person going through hormonal changes is conscious of acne that may hang around, or may come and go. It could affect their confidence, energy and anxiety, or it could completely pass them by without causing any worry.

At the other end of the spectrum, someone going through chemotherapy may be completely devoid of energy, could be extremely distressed and anxious and may have financial difficulties as a result of their health. 

Not only is disease prevention is everyone’s responsibility, it’s also the best way you can live a rich, enjoyable and vibrant life. 

How do I prevent disease, and how do I know what I need to protect myself against?

That’s a really broad question, and it can be pretty overwhelming thinking how the eff do I know what little old me can do to protect myself against disease?

I’ll be really clear here; this definitely isn’t suggesting you can cure cancer or start a movement that will resolve and cure all kinds of diseases.

What I am suggesting, however, is that you can choose to take control of your own health and living it in the healthiest way you can.

What’s the point in that? Well, fair question. With so many doom and gloom stories in the news about Covid, the rise of depression and anxiety and soooo many more health fears, it’s easy to think we’re done for in terms of health.

There are loads of actions you can personally take, and that I would urge you to take, for a number of reasons:

Stay up to date with smear tests and the NHS health checks you’re offered at 40+. 

If you’re worried about a health issue, for goodness sakes don’t just bury your head in the sand – seek advice and be honest about your symptoms and how they’re affecting you.